The Scottish village that raised millions to create a nature reserve

A small community in Scotland is forging ahead with the creation of the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve which will focus on nature restoration and tackling climate change.
Emma Keeling meets the team of locals behind the Langholm Initiative. They successfully raised £6m to buy 10,500 acres of wild-life rich land in the Southern Uplands near Langholm. The former textile town has seen a decline in traditional industry resulting in loss of jobs and that’s where the Langholm Initiative comes in. They hope the new nature reserve will create more opportunities in the community at the same time as restoring the natural environment.
As the climate emergency becomes ever more urgent, RAZOR finds out whether people power and community conservation efforts are the way to go.

[@Joey-rs7uq]

We can all do our little parts to make this earth as beautiful as it deserves. Nature restores by default, just needs some love and redirection. I made a bunch of little pools that are fed by a vernal pond, which was once just a steep spillway, its nice to see frogs just living their lives like they have for millions of years in them.

[@silverhooligan1256]

I’m so happy to know this project has been undertaken. I recently did a bike tour through Scotland and was shocked how little natural habitat was intact, I had no idea that Britain in general was the most devastated of environments in the world with only 50% of natural habit left. I’m actually surprised there is 50% left, it seemed less.

[@blue2mato312]

Loss of biodiversity is a loss of species, I don’t know how much or little natural habitat they have left.

[@evibertolait8262]

I love the UK but at every visit I felt sorry for the overgrazed and eroded land. But I also met so amazing people that just startet planting natural woodland and seeing this next level project makes me very happy, hopeful and eager to step in.

[@thomashawk21]

Go to loch ard forest it’ll change your mind

[@ruhied957]

One reason for exploring other worlds ...wood needed for ship building.... extravagant lifestyle of rich meant over harvesting and using of land forests...

[@louisegogel7973]

Superb effort and may it all flow seamlessly, creatively, and successfully in every way!

[@dragoonzen]

we need more of this world wide!

[@centurione6489]

We do!

[@chrisflesser2171]

.. it's happening here in Australia, but it's few and far between.

[@kingy002]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aYe9hH2Bl9-sg8U

[@lorrainegatanianhits8331]

不

[@rowanwhite3520]

Absolutely wonderful and sooo... proud of this community!

[@josephinewallis8693]

Love love knowing about this wonderful initiative…..thank you all you lovely women taking care of our Grand Mother……I’m moved to tears. 💕💕💕💕💕🙏

[@Samariapain]

This has made me so happy I'm shock crying

[@pipfox7834]

Similar land acquisition for re-wilding the landscape is also happening on a large scale in Australia, The Australian Wildlife Conservancy is doing this work in most states of our country. Good news!

[@bluebox2000]

News is usually so bleak, these are the type of videos of good news that I look for. Rewilding, dam removal, wetland restoration, species reintroduction - there are many positive things happening too, to lift the spirit.

[@chris-terrell-liveactive]

This is an excellent video, really good news and very well presented, thank you. I'll forward the link to Science teaching colleagues at the school I work at. This shows why we need massive expansion of community land ownership in Scotland.

[@jeanmichel4630]

Magnifique ! Quelle belle initiative 🥰 enfin des gens qui me donne espoir en l’humanité

[@emead528]

This is becoming more common in many countries.

[@hjkhjk3829]

Scotland is beautiful

[@maireadmaguire7509]

Brilliant work well well done to you all it’s truly inspiring, thanks so much fellow souls your helping the entire world 🙌🏼

[@Mycoblastus]

Well done, i think it will be a great nature reserv with time.

[@DivergentMoon]

Wow! I'm 78 and healthy. I'd love to come visit Langholm and hike the area. It would be a great place to retire to if they had a senior living accommodations to help us stay vital over our final years as much as possible.

[@markjones7109]

It`s amazing what people and communities can do for themselves. Governments don`t solve problems - they make them. This story is truly inspiring.

[@wendynine-sc2sv]

But this does depend on the government and the people and their interactions, in my opinion. No?

[@philroberts7238]

@@wendynine-sc2sv Yes, certainly. Governments are essential. (But, of course, they must be the servants of the will of the people, which, as we know, isn't always the case. But then again, in a democracy, it's usually the people themselves who are to blame for the governments which they have decided, in their wisdom, to foist upon themselves!)

[@lorrainegatanianhits8331]

不

[@MrJDR-McIsaac]

Brilliant - I was lucky enough to have lived just outside Langholm, I now work as an Estate Manager for a national institution who are undertaking similar work. If we give nature a chance and the right encouragement it will do a lot of what it, and, we need - naturally. I recognise the single-track road on the hill, I'm going to visit. This is a long-term goal “Nae man can tether time or tide.” , well it can be done in this case - restore the landscape

[@icoachmyself9980]

Great documentary!!! I loved that this project is headed by so many GREAT WOMEN!!! AWESOME!!!

[@dreddykrugernew]

Whats that got to do with anything, get your head out your backside...

[@gerardhogan3]

​@@dreddykrugernewnice mate, totally agree

[@anderslangoks3813]

Thanks for posting this. Inspirational.

[@leswallace2426]

I'm so glad I chipped in for this - what glorious people!!! Nice to see a community acting conscientiously rather than being parochial - wanting to keep things the same for personal reasons.

[@deekang6244]

I would come for hiking tours, if there were places to stay and cafes and grocery stores for food.

[@mycolliesandme268]

Well done to the good people doing this, can only hope to see more of this around the world.

[@ClaireCelticMystic]

Wet desert, depleted by human interferences under the influence of evil. Against Nature. Against life. We are now ready to show what we can do as Nature, as stewards, as humble partners with the majestic potential of Nature to be regenerative, abundant and beautiful; where do we start; align with ethics and principles of Permaculture; care of the earth, care of the people and sharing the surplus that comes from those first 2! Love, Aloha, Claire

[@andrewmcdonald6987]

Fantastic, i love what is being done xx

[@janisripple754]

Rewinding Scotland ❤❤

[@jonathaneffemey944]

Thanks for posting

[@edharding8372]

Another good interview Emma. 👍

[@PaulHayes-r7w]

Your videos are wonderful.Great teacher teaching the next generation openly weekend massive improvement on the planet

[@PaulHayes-r7w]

We can do it 💪 There is no such thing as we Cannot do it😂

[@robertwilkes2105]

An amazing project. Hopefully, there'll be future updates.

[@NatuProg]

It feels good to hear about this.

[@mortalclown3812]

Hoping greater numbers of people see this. Thank you... 15% of Americans don't even that climate emergency exists. It's not going Chicken Little to warn that innocent children and wildlife will have a devastating future unless we pull together.

[@JudithGillett]

Brilliant! Thank you! Every good wish

[@andrewwestburnham3777]

very well done

[@lucdeslauriers1021]

Quel beau projet! Félicitations et salutations cordiales depuis le nord du 🇨🇦 Canada.

[@busysaru888]

Great! Keep it up!

[@malcolmmacqueen2340]

amazing work, we have a small 7 hectare community woodland we are growing above Largs, but Langholm scale is vast!

[@Chatintime]

very good job !

[@Rod-b7y]

Absolutely fabulous!!!

[@TroyEagan]

An entire watershed under community ownership is legendary.

[@brianhitchmough6628]

I’m guessing this is the “ new “ community buy out by a lot of left wing Guardian reading armchair green warriors. Quite frankly, it’s been managed perfectly for years before you guys were about. Let’s see how your so called new…( just about) …post grad “wildlife experts” perform and see if they do a better job then the old experienced hill managers did. Pretty shameful, and in all honesty, you are frankly talking a lot of bollox.

[@ldoumen9904]

I fear huge fences needed for keeping out the grazers (deer and sheep) ? Or smaller fences to keep them in? Too many grazers?

[@jamesalanstephensmith7930]

Good for you!

[@rhyde0731]

Regenerative farming with with AMP grazing is so important. Ruminant animals can heal the land and soil when managed regeneratively.

[@xikano8573]

Love this!!! 👏🏽 👏🏽👏🏽

[@KirkDoak]

Resourceful location with a few nice biomes. ⚔️

[@001GLa]

Great work

[@LiterallyOverTheHillAdventures]

Does the property have a red deer population? If so, what is being done to manage the herd to take the pressure off the newly planted trees that are going to be planted?

[@lauramaskell1653]

I hope they reintroduce Beavers to the streams and rivers. Beavers ponds rehydrate the land, reduce drought and floods, sequesters CO2 and provides habitat for many other animals and also plants.

[@greatplainsman3662]

Were they native there?

[@ruhied957]

Community ownership in itself is great mindset change ...❤

[@koholohan3478]

Please introduce beavers. They will passively engineer this habitate, helping those bogs grow. It is imperative. They are a keystone species that will transform this place. Beavers are the future. Maybe plant lots of willow cuttings and maple and birch saplings a couple years prior along the river, (types beavers eat.) Willow is simple to cut off pieace (get lots of genetic diversity) and they root well just shoved in the ground. They will feed the beavers and shade the water, keeping it cool and protected. Also, to jumpstart things, place large, woody debris in the stream, maybe some whole trees and root wads, or maybe "beaver dam analogs". They will passively, free labour lol, dam up those man-made channels too. The benefits are endless. It is far more complex than just worrying about them cutting down trees. Those species wouldn't be growing in the lower lands anyways, the ones that die, if they beaver hasn't been eradicated. The ones that aggressively reprout from the stump, year after year, like a crop, those evolved to live with the beaver. And when areas are flooded and some trees die, it transforms into a birds and insect nursery, etc. Standing deadwood is very important. The riparian area will expand, alleviating flooding, store water for droughts, recharge the groundwater for nearby pumping, even creating a fire break and safe refuge for animals in times of forest fire. The water will spread out, absorb, and be gentle during a flood, and store for dry times. River complexity and length with increase, and the erosive velocity will decrease. They will catch sediments and heavy metals, and they will use up nutrients and filter water. They are the key to allowing so many other species thrive. You guys need to bring in beavers. And yes, there are ways to protect specifc trees with either a mixture of sand paint on the tree or just cage wire. Also, if they flood a roadway, there is methods to deal with that, that regulates the water level with a culver. Anyways, all the ♡

[@marymcandrew7667]

Thanks for your great comment, I agree with you, bring in beavers!

[@emead528]

Fantastic!

[@koholohan3478]

@@marymcandrew7667 I'm glad someone read all of that hahaha, ty

[@jonnylumberjack6223]

I'm sure they will. There is only one group of beavers that were officially introduced to the UK. Somehow, beavers have managed to populate an entirely different habitat, many, many miles away and nobody knows how they got there! Human intervention is the most likely reason, someone decided to evade the stringencies of the wrangling involved in establishing them legally and took matters into their own hands. Both groups are doing very well, improving the land they live on, reducing flooding etc and the "illegal" group have been allowed to stay, thank goodness. Anyway, my conclusion is that I'm sure beavers will be living in this place before too long, one way or another :)

[@blue2mato312]

Like in Carrifran which was started over twenty years ago they said they have to both be large enough (which it seems this land is) and wait until there is enough mature forest to bring in beavers. Otherwise it will just be a disaster for both the trees and the beavers.

[@damonchampion823]

💚 this. So heartwarming

[@uggali]

Exciting! And what animals are y’all looking to introduce and attract?

[@pipfox7834]

*Re- wilding* means removing any human use of these reserves (hunting, peat digging etc) and simply allowing the landscape to recover on its own. Species usually recolonise on their own, once the conditions start to improve (plant life recovers if you take grazing animals off it).

[@pipfox7834]

Plus some replanting of the original trees, together provides a basis for all the rest of the wildlife to gradually re-colonise.

[@pipfox7834]

I'm not local to Scotland to say which animals/birds will be likely to return: suggest internet search if interested :)

[@uggali]

@@pipfox7834 i have experience working around water quality and biodiversity. And yes it isn’t so much about introducing animals and more establishing quality and quantity habitat and food plants, our main focus was mitigating erosion and pollution and reintroducing locally extinct and rare species of plants to enrich the ecosystem and increase their survivability against pest plants which we managed with hand tools

[@pipfox7834]

​@uggali no worries, enjoy your weekend :)

[@ОлексійБурковський-о3й]

I am impressed very much. Thank you for hope! The project shows that the issue of land ownership is crucial for saving biodiversity and ecosystems. As for me, first of all state or public land ownership can make large protected areas, therefore governments should buy up as more as possible lands at private owners for establishment of new natural reserves, national parks an etc. I would like to make a similar project in my country, in Ukraine, on the agricultural land damaged by Russian aggression.

[@CC-uq4hu]

How exciting. Keep buying those lands ladies! I’m so pleased to see Scotland going back to what it was. A beauty that was raped by a greedy few…in many ways

[@petermarsh4993]

This is a great story. I presume that the revegetation will be with Scottish pine. I would encourage you to look into acquiring seeds for Tasmanian Hardwood species that could form the basis of a healthy mixed forest. Such trees as Tasmanian Myrtle, Blackwood, Black-heart Sassafras, Pencil pine, Huon pine and many others would make for a fascinating mix. When these trees come down they could be harvested for crafts as their timber is spectacularly beautiful. Just have a think.

[@abcdjkx]

Non-native trees are a bad idea. Rewilding is about restoring the native ecosystem.

[@petermarsh4993]

@@abcdjkx I disagree. Rewilding should be about building the most complex and bioloogically active environments that one can imagine. Take a walk through a mixed temperate forest and you will be overwhelmed at the magnificent biodiversity. Take a walk through any northern forest in UK, USA, Canada, Norway, Sweden etc and you will be struck by the boring monoculture that happens in a coniferous forest. Pines kill undergrowth with their acid needles. Temperate mixed hardwood forests foster undergrowth with their pH neutral leaves. It’s like cheese and chalk. Just because it was what was most recently dominating the land doesn’t mean that it is the best that can occupy the land in the future.

[@abcdjkx]

@@petermarsh4993 the boring conifer plantations you reference are not what is envisioned by rewilding, quite the opposite- replacing them with diverse native tree species that provide a home to varied birds and insects. Tasmanian trees belong in Tasmania, not Scotland.

[@bogdanpopescu1401]

@@abcdjkx you are half contradicting yourself: "Rewilding is about restoring the native ecosystem." vs " the boring conifer plantations you reference are not what is envisioned by rewilding"

[@abcdjkx]

@@bogdanpopescu1401 I have no idea how you managed to contort that into a contradiction. Most commercial conifer plantations in Scotland are single-species stands of sitka spruce, which is not native. Rewilding intends to remove non-native trees such as that and replace them with the diverse native ecosystem which is comprised of many different tree species

[@luisfelix5291]

Beautiful countryside

[@jmitch5161]

Good for them. Great to see. Humans certainly have played their part in raising temps but they are not the ordinary cause. The earth naturally warms and cools in cycles.

[@Unsolicitedbias]

I bet there were thousands of hectares of forest there 300 years or more ago.

[@billps34]

Actually there wasn't forest there 300 years ago. It's a common myth. Much of the heathland/moorland and peatland habitats in in the UK were created in the Bronze age. These areas are semi-natural, and have been managed by humans for thousands of years. They're not suitable for growing crops, and have been used historically for grazing animals.

[@mycolliesandme268]

Thousands of years ago there was. There may of been a few more native trees 300 years ago. But Man began to clear and manage the land much longer ago than that,for sheep farming,grouse breeding / shooting and deer. And growing timber/non native conifer trees. Draining the wet peat bog areas etc. But yes just imagine what it once looked like. 😊👍

[@bitTorrenter]

45-50,000m² of space. That's a lot of of space. I wonder what the non native conifers were. Will they plant Scots Pine instead?

[@mycolliesandme268]

They will plant a variety of native trees, deciduous Forest is Richer environment, with probably a mix of some scots pine. Biodiversity.

[@BronnyJamesBricks]

Beavers are the best way to transform the landscape

[@valeriebrown6079]

Wonderful initiative and a both interesting and informative programme. Sad to hear so many English accents though.

[@shellyryan8506]

Inspirational!

[@foldupaudi7645]

Awesome

[@raywatherston]

Most interesting. 2 comments. not a man in sight !! and am concerned about foxes they will go for the Kites and all other ground nesting birds unless controlled. Best wishes.

[@jasonparrish8670]

I'm hoping the National government in London or the Scottish governments contributed to the incredible work of this group.

[@philroberts7238]

Forestry Scotland have helped, according to this video.

[@technomad9071]

finally a place in scotland i wan to live

[@abcdjkx]

All those trees might stop those cold autumn winds.

[@emead528]

Return the land to a natural state. Totally correct that we are trying to save the human race not the earth. Mother Earth will remain long after we are gone.

[@uggali]

Leshgoo Langholm

[@Sam613306]

I hope they plan to bring back beavers?

[@erniehudson1]

Jenny Barlow is such a beautiful Scottish ginger.

[@Eggyfart83]

She's an English ginger mate, north English accent

[@erniehudson1]

@@Eggyfart83 alright, cheers

[@bluebox2000]

She's just gorgeous! Like a Bond girl, you can't take your eyes off.

[@sw8741]

If they were half way smart they would plant small sections of trees to be harvested and use the monies to continue the work. Make it financially sustainable so as not to depend on handouts or peoples good will.

[@chrisflesser2171]

Almost the whole of Great Britain used to be covered by a massive forest of broad leaved trees, mainly elm and oak. The destruction began 5000 years ago, with the arrival of the neolithic peoples and this destruction was fast tracked 2500 years ago, with the arrival of the Celts who cleared the forests for cultivation and grazing.

[@jennymauger]

So much pride from New Zealand when we achieved similar for our ancestral patch in Assynt 🫶🏼

[@Mountain_Bike_Archaeology]

It's a shame that just over the hill to the South, our Nationally Managed, forests, are the subject of such gross industrialisation and profiteering. In someways the polar opposite, of the good work being implemented here, as habitats and persecution of existing flora and fauna are decimated, for commercial gain. .

[@joseenoel8093]

Keep going... I'm a chick forest technician from Montreal, I've been to Scotland 3 times, yuck are the hills, nature cannot live pocketed, it's not money!

[@allolobophorus]

💚💚💚

[@mellissadalby1402]

If I had a lot of money I would buy up as much open land as I could and engage horticulturalists and land management types to restore the land to its natural state, growing native flora. One challenge would be to discourage any malevolent tresspassing to allow the reserve to recover in peace. As the flora returns, so would the fauna (that which is not yet extinct).

[@geoffcollier8736]

You will have to control the deer to encourage possible sapling growth. Also I would be interested to see how the finances stack up. A lot of investment is going into this. Not sure we are in a climate crisis still. Maybe something to do with a not unusual very long term earthly cycle? Trees for example need co2 to grow. Suggest people look at the proportion of co2 present in the atmosphere now.

[@Scriptorsilentum]

i kinda wonder every time i hear gratuitous statements on tv about carbon and global warming/climate change/whatever is in vogue now if these people are entirely aware of the niceties of photosynthesis.

[@philroberts7238]

@@Scriptorsilentum I kinda think that those who consider that the fear of global warming etc is merely a phenomenon 'in vogue' are the ones who are unaware of the niceties of climate science. Are you seriously suggesting that climate scientists are unaware of photosynthesis?

[@philroberts7238]

And I suggest you look at the speed of the change in the past 200 years and compare it to that of the long term earthly cycles you mention.

[@philroberts7238]

@@Scriptorsilentum What on earth gives you the idea that the people making such statements are unaware of photosynthesis? I kinda wonder if you any idea of the issues they are worried about and why they are as worried as they are.

[@JohnJackson-e9z]

A naturebteserve is nove and all but it is more of a public park. It will need active management to restore bio diversity. Still, it is a nive feel good piece on thebpiwer of locals working together. In the end it is for local enjoyment and doesn't have anything to do with climate change globally

[@daveroberts2902]

Do you know the difference of the temp above 1 acre of solar panels vs 1 acre of trees or grass?

[@Davos2020]

Wild cows man.

[@HennyWho_7]

You guys should get beavers….wet lands up your wild life preserve leaver the damn building material behind for the animals

[@chrisflesser2171]

Bring in beavers. They have a huge impact on biodiversity.

[@LasseGreiner]

Empowered women make a reverse change for the better. I approve and thanks!

[@sstarklite2181]

Community ownership! See why all people should own all things?? Then all people will feel like it’s their own responsibility to clean up and heal the earth! It’s like the way people who don’t own their own house or apartment, they don’t have a reason to take care of something unless they own it. Acts 2:44 is such pure Truth! All people should own all things for many reasons,rather than just a few rich people who own everything! Capitalists couldn’t be more wrong about anything and everything! We were all forced to need money, and work for wages over the millennia (WCRTW page 252) . And USA has been violently forcing all nations into this wage system by starting over 50-80 wars, killing millions. See ROGUE STATE by Wm Blum and many others at THIRD WORLD TRAVELER.

[@bogdanpopescu1401]

what if somebody wants to sell and be out of community ownership? what if somebody builds something by himself, should it be owned by himself, or by all people? what about decision making when all people own things? who gets to decide how things are to be used? your crazy talk led to more deaths than the US wars, study the history of communism

[@patrickjvanhuffel]

Why wouldn't Scots want some climate warming? I'm shivering just watching this video

[@ywoulduchoosetousethis]

This is great for Ontario as the PC changes conservatory laws by shifting the powers under their ministry.

[@_nz_diy_]

The presenter sounds like a kiwi? Great story

[@R.E.A.L.I.T.Y]

Pathetic isn’t that people can’t just plant trees anymore. They need MILLIONS

[@billps34]

The millions were to buy the land from the nobility (Duke of Buccleuch) who previously owned it, and mismanaged it. You can't just turn up and start planting trees on land owned by some private individual. In any case, I don't think tree planting is their main concern here, since it's moorland. The main idea here is to let it rewild itself. Moorland is already a semi-natural habitat. Hands off, and it will return to nature basically.

[@sangoir]

Once again it is women leading the way! Let’s put more women in charge.

[@ColinFreeman-kh9us]

Nice clip, hope they do well. It’s really sad that Scotland has gone WOKE though.

[@Parker_Douglas]

Your sad . You’re on the wrong video.

[@lorihamlin3604]

How has Scotland gone WOKE? Serious question.

[@BronnyJamesBricks]

Jenny 🥰

[@AspenVonFluffer]

The only real solution is tax bills that reward/require one worker per household. When husbands and wifes both work it creates twice the carbon. Support tax bills that wave 100% income tax, up to 100K, if one spouse stays home . . .. ... ..... ........

[@ryanwordsworth-y4s]

😂😂 I believe they did a study recently. Hardly any curlews etc on there

[@epiphyte8646]

please naturalize native and foreign fruit trees so poor city kids who live in tiny apartments can pick fruit directly from trees for the 1st time in their lives. there's no reason that wild places can't be useful for people and animals. here's a more or less relevant reference... "Native and non-native species for dryland afforestation: bridging ecosystem integrity and livelihood support"

[@hornetobiker]

Are there no Scots who could do these jobs? Do we have to rely on economic migrants from SOB?

[@andrewtrip8617]

Naw the,re out on the beer !

[@gotherefindout]

What point billions, trillions in bank accounts. Global ecosystems those do the restoring need this money now.

[@TheWhale45]

CO2 is plant food...

[@briandempsey5749]

"The reason the community bought this and was to ..." - that should be "the reason the community bought this land with other people's money was to ..."

[@Aplusinskal]

Would @MossyEarth be able to help with these kinds of projects? =)

[@scg_1981]

so the jung girl that is a manager at Woodland Trust, dont know how many trees they will plant, if some one tell me that this is a manager at Woodland Trust then i m the Pope. How is this even possible?

[@philroberts7238]

Ability, perhaps? Competence? Enthusiasm? Education?

[@salamandiusbraveheart4183]

Plant more food forests in the village

[@auldfouter8661]

It's a cold part of the country though - there are limits.

[@ingridgolding978]

@@auldfouter8661 look at what Sepp Holzer did at1100- 1500 meters above sea level in Austria, look at what Richard Perkins is doing in Sweden. Remarkable production

[@auldfouter8661]

@@ingridgolding978 You think you can grow crops at 3,500 feet up in Scotland?

[@pitbladdoassociatesltd]

A purchase built purely on hope. Those who bought it were blinded almost entirely on the anti hunting of the Duke who owned it last. Just the fact they are trying to change a landscape thats taken 1000s of years to create. So it was in existence in that state almost well before mans influence. But people have to remember. We fought 2 world wars the last less than 100 years ago. The country needed feeding. No landowner thought that it would be great to spend their own money on draining such vast landscapes. It was by government incentives to graze livestock on areas where we couldn't grow crops, that way more land was brought into arable use to grow the wheat oats etc. This is why we lost our hedgerows also as we wanted bigger fields for bigger machinery to harvest quicker and more efficiently. Now for the last decade or so way before this purchase drains where being blocked as we didn't need to be graze so much on the landscape. Anyone thinking it was for grouse shooting are wrong. Grouse were there living within the landscape well before the firearm came into existence. Sad thing is that some of that vital nature that they are hoping to encourage such as the supposed persecuted Hen Harrier has depleted in such a short time. Fledging rates of successive breeding pairs has dropped. The introduction of eagles being an influence on this probably as footage filmed last year shows a nest cam footage of a Golden Eagle in one of the Hen Harrier nests as the parents try to fight off the intruder. If there wasn't anything to fight for, then the Hen Harriers wouldn't put themselves into that kind of danger. I can envision like others do, a major wildfire occurring on this landscape due to the lack of management. They again hope that the likes of the moss being wet doesn't burn, but as we have seen in other wild fires, it does burn hence why we have seen some destructive wildfires on other nature reserves such as the 100 sq miles of RSPB landscape in the Highlands of Scotland the other year.

[@emead528]

Really? 2000 years ago the entire country was probably a forest. The UK depleted their country and continued in the Americas. The US is rewilding many places. Bringing back keystone species like beavers and wolves. We are changing the way we see the wilderness. Not as a resource to be exhausted but an environment to be cared for ensuring existance in the future.

[@ingridgolding978]

There exists such a thing as integrative landscape management where trees, animals, ecosytem restoration and cultivation can all complement eachother with very low imputs . They are actually highly productive systems because there is high water retention and nutrient cycling as found in natural systems. Humans are beginning to understand alot more about these processes , such as the food soil web and have only just scratched the surface for their potential. All human's have to do is assist natural processes and listen to and understand nature. Fire management is another whole area that needs understanding. Obviously we are devastating the small hydrological cycle that provides balanced amounts of moisture and rain by decimating the vegetation on our continents.

[@ingridgolding978]

There is a book called 'fire phenomena and the earth's system' actually written by a Scottish woman who's a world expert on the subject, she's called Claire M. Belcher

[@emead528]

@@ingridgolding978 thank you for this.